G.O.P. Power Broker in Albany Accused of Lying to F.B.I.

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State Senator Thomas W. Libous, left, leaving court in White Plains on Tuesday with his lawyer, Paul Der Ohannesian, after being arraigned. Mr. Libous was charged with lying to federal agents.CreditAnthony Lanzilote for The New York Times

State Senator Thomas W. Libous is a natural in Albany’s clubby corridors, a world away from the family grocery store in Binghamton, N.Y., where he worked growing up.

A Republican with a nose for deal-making, he ascended to become one of the most powerful lawmakers in the capital and forged a close bond with a fellow political tactician, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, despite their partisan differences.

But for several years, the life and career of Mr. Libous (pronounced LIB-us) faced grave threats. In 2009, he was found to have prostate cancer, which later spread to his lungs. And law enforcement officials were examining whether he had misused his office in an effort to obtain a job for his son.

On Tuesday, Mr. Libous’s future grew even more troubled. He was indicted along with his son Matthew on charges that the senator had lied to federal agents and that his son had filed false tax returns. The senator and his son were charged in separate indictments.

The outcome of Senator Libous’s case, in which he faces up to five years in prison, could further imperil efforts by Republicans to cling to power in the Senate, their last stronghold in New York politics.

Mr. Libous, 61, of Binghamton, is a fixture in the Senate, where he first won his seat in 1988.

He is now the chamber’s second-highest-ranking Republican, and over the years he has helped direct millions of dollars in state funds to his district along the Pennsylvania border.

For the past three and a half years, he has been an essential conduit between Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, and the Republican senators who have passed much of the governor’s agenda.

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Matthew Libous after his arraignment on tax charges.CreditAnthony Lanzilote for The New York Times

In remarks to reporters after his arraignment in White Plains, Mr. Libous said he had done nothing wrong and questioned whether the prosecution had been timed with his bid for re-election in November.

“I am innocent from all these charges,” Mr. Libous said. “It’s very disappointing and we are going to fight them.”

Asked about his son, he said, “I love my son, and he, too, is innocent and will fight these charges.”

To many, including government watchdogs and other lawmakers, the indictment of Mr. Libous was like a bad movie that seemed destined to repeat on an endless loop in Albany: Yet another legislator is being accused of abusing his office for personal gain.

“Public servants should serve the public first, not themselves and their families,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office brought the charges, said in a statement.

In the past six months, four have lost their seats; just last week, a Manhattan assemblywoman, Gabriela Rosa, admitted in court that she had entered into a sham marriage for immigration purposes.

Others in Albany could be in trouble soon: Mr. Bharara’s prosecutors are involved in unrelated investigations focused on more than a half-dozen other state legislators, based on inquiries that had been conducted by the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Mr. Cuomo created last July and shut down at the end of March.

The charge against Senator Libous, however, stems from an earlier investigation by federal prosecutors in White Plains focusing on whether he got a job for his son, a lawyer, in exchange for promises that the father would steer business to the law firm that hired him.

As part of the investigation, prosecutors were examining whether a lobbying firm, at the senator’s direction, paid the law firm $50,000 a year to cover the cost of “the inflated salary that Libous requested” for his son, the indictment said.

The indictments do not name the two firms, but a person briefed on the matter said that the law firm was Santangelo, Randazzo & Mangone and that the lobbying firm was Ostroff, Hiffa & Associates, which is now called Ostroff Associates. (Fred Hiffa, a lobbyist who is close to Mr. Libous and was a partner there, now works for another firm.)

Mr. Libous and his son were arraigned on Tuesday before Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith in United States District Court in White Plains.

Paul DerOhannesian, the senator’s lawyer, entered a plea of not guilty on his client’s behalf, and the senator was released on a $50,000 bond co-signed by his wife, Fran.

Earlier, the lawyer for Matthew Libous, John C. Meringolo, entered a plea of not guilty, and his client was released on $50,000 bond. Mr. Meringolo spoke briefly afterward, saying, “My client is an attorney in good standing for at least 10 years without any complaints.”

The six-count indictment of the younger Mr. Libous, 36, alleges that he failed to report tens of thousands of dollars in income and that he used a cellphone-tower business he partly owned to pay for personal expenses, like casino trips, an Internet dating subscription and visits to tanning salons.

The indictment of the senator says that F.B.I. agents interviewed him in June 2010 and that Mr. Libous “falsely stated” that he could not recall how his son began working at the law firm.

He also said that no deals were made to get his son the job, and that he was not aware the lobbying firm had paid any part of his son’s salary.

Additionally, he said he never promised to refer work to the law firm.

In conversations with friends, the senator has long maintained that while he made a call on behalf of his son, he did not promise anything in exchange for his son’s being hired.

Republicans are likely to hold on to Mr. Libous’s district in the long term, since the party’s voters outnumber Democrats in it. But as they campaign this year, Republicans have been eager to remind voters of scandals that plagued Democratic senators in the past, and a fresh scandal involving an upstate Republican conflicts with that theme.

As for his cancer, Mr. Libous said on Tuesday that it had spread to his lungs and spine, although he said it would not deter him from seeking re-election.

“The cancer is terminal,” he said. “There is no cure for me.”

The indictment of Mr. Libous could deprive the governor of his most sympathetic negotiating partner in the Senate Republican caucus, which has shared control of the chamber with an independent faction of Democrats. But it comes just weeks after Mr. Cuomo agreed to aid a renewed Democratic effort to capture control of the chamber.

The senator and the governor are so fond of each other that Mr. Cuomo borrowed a jet from a political supporter to fly to Binghamton to attend Matthew Libous’s wedding last year.

In an appearance near Binghamton last week, Mr. Cuomo praised the senator for “his leadership and his character” and noted their ability to work together to produce results as an example of “the difference between the old Albany and the new Albany.”

“He is one of the natural leaders for the entire legislative body — Democrats and Republicans, both houses,” Mr. Cuomo said. “And he’s been a great mentor and a great friend to me.”

Correction:

A previous version of this article misspelled the name of a county included in State Senator Thomas W. Libous’s district. It is Chenango County, not Chango. It also misstated the amount of money of Senator Libous’s bond. It was $50,000, not $65,000.

Joseph Berger and Susanne Craig contributed reporting.

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